The Avengers ***1/2

“The Avengers” is one hell of a way to kick off the Summer. This has been hyped up through five movies that preceded it. This is honestly the best one so far that has included “Iron Man”, “Iron Man 2”, “The Incredible Hulk”, “Thor”, and “Captain America”. Now all those heroes team up in one movie to try to save the earth from an alien invasion.

The director that was tasked with bringing this group together is none other than fan favorite: Joss Whedon. Here he takes these characters that we have gotten to know in the last few years and puts them in a story of epic proportions. You can tell that Whedon loves these characters as he gives all the actors equal screen time and a complex screenplay to work with.

All the actors feel right at home as the characters they have played for a few years now. What is truly interesting is some of the chemistry they start to develop between each other. Robert Downey Jr. and Mark Ruffalo as Iron Man and Hulk in particular develop an interesting relationship because of their background as scientists.

I also found that the villain, Loki, who was the main antagonist in “Thor”, seems more deep and menacing. Tom Hiddleston seems to be having more fun now chewing up the scenery.

Now I imagine that the masses are coming to this movie to see earth shattering action and “The Avengers” does not disappoint. My favorite scenes involved these dragon like machines that descended from a portal in the sky and began to level the city.

This is where comic book movies are headed I think. Crossovers are the future. I feel like audiences are sick to death with seeing so many super heroes and their origin stories. The box office here proves that they want something different, like seeing their favorite heroes team up together on screen.